Sunday, January 02, 2005

Jonathan Steele, inspired by the blatant American manipulation of the election process in the Ukraine, asks some good questions about the newest kind of American neocolonialism, 'electoral interventionism':

"As with 'humanitarian interventionism', which was much debated in the 90s, 'electoral interventionism' needs to be thrashed out. Why is so much of it selective? Why do western governments (for they are the prime interferers) that claim to be fostering democracy take only one side, rather than being above the fray? Why are only certain countries picked? Georgia, but not Azerbaijan. Serbia, but not Croatia. Zimbabwe, but not Egypt."

We can never lose sight of the fact that the main culprit in the manipulation of democracy, the Orwellian-monikered National Endowment for Democracy (NED) - which should really be called the National Endowment for Dictatorship Friendly to American Big Business (NEDFABB) - was set up by the Reagan Administration in the wake of the many scandals involving the CIA in the 1960's and 70's. It was no longer possible to use the CIA to manipulate the governments of other countries, a process well documented by William Blum, so NEDFABB was set up to do the same sorts of things in a seemingly kinder, gentler form. Don't be fooled by the name. They're a bunch of thugs. Hijacking a country by stealing its election is just as bad as the old fashioned CIA method of assassination (a technique now apparently limited to domestic use).